When do you think universities will open?

[googlepoodle]

I would think they would be definitely be working to a September deadlines for the new academic year.
But do we think any sooner? I am professional services staff and currently working from home.

Our figure would be about the same. I don't think even 20% of our permanent academic staff are under 45.

About the same as damekindness that is. I don't think any of our student-facing admin staff are under-45.

Very interesting, thanks all who replied. I suppose admin staff could wfh - and presumably the intention is that they will anyway, if online only? Why are the gta and fixed term people no longer available - or replacements for them , as a matter of interest?
So, if academic staff are largely over 45 and would want to lecture online, could new gtas/fixed termers do the smaller seminars? Just trying to think of some compromise measures that enable students to have something closer to ‘university experience’ - even if they,re watching lectures from their hall bedroom! (As i gather some do anyway, but that is another issue). The alternative may be to accept that numbers and fee income will be reduced, unemployment figures correspondingly higher. Very difficult, no easy answers. Also raises question that numbers may not bounce back next year.

A lot of (if not all) universities are currently cutting/not renewing fixed-term staff and all budgets for GTA teaching next year to save money. It is a very dire time to be a junior academic.

RE different arrangements for different year groups: I think this could work for some courses, but courses where they teach modules to more than one yeargroup (e.g. mixed beginners' language classes, as well as some institutions where 2/3 year optional modules are shared and rotate on alternate years) would have a real problem. And even without that, it's quite likely that students would complain about some of their fellows having different arrangements to them! Although my colleagues and I have been talking quite a lot about the varying needs of different cohorts - for first years who've never been to university before, starting online is a very different proposition than it will be for those who have already at least had some time on campus to get to know staff & their fellow students.

I think more creative thinking will be needed - use of the largest spaces, conference facilities etc 10 min changeover between classes, lectures spread out over longer times in the day. Traffic light system so older staff or with health worries teach furthest from students (largest rooms, smaller groups etc)

A logistical nightmare but it’s what companies all over are planning right now.

We've been told to plan for dual-delivery for the entirety of the next academic year, and emphasised that the remote students still need to be getting quality education. It's going to be a lot of work. I actually think it could force us into some better educational practices - less recall-based examinations and more enquiry-based learning, for example - but it is going to be hard to do it all this summer!

Also, the medics have dibs on physical space - they have to make sure there isn't a missing cohort of physicians a few years down the line! - so we have no clue what sort of in-person teaching we might be able to do.

Interesting murmuration - is the plan that some courses will be online-only for the entire year, or that many courses will be partly online for the entire year? I think if a prospective student knows the whole year will be online, that will have a significant impact on new admissions - existing students are more stuck, so may be more likely to carry on.

It would be a difficult choice for new students faced with an 'online-all-year' course for £9k or the alternative of possible unemployment at home. Volunteer work rather than paid employment for that year leaves a big financial gap, with dparents possibly less able than previously to subsidise it.

Oh well, maybe the suggestion that measures may start to be lifted on Monday (as Boris has just hinted in PMQs) is a hint that the prevalence data they're starting to get in suggests things may be able to be eased slightly sooner than seemed to be the case earlier this week.

We have been planning for a September return, a January return and for a longer or staggered return. Our planning for something does not mean it will happen, it just means we will be more prepared if it does.

Thanks Phpion - that must be so much work, planning for three (or more!) different scenarios - it can't be at all easy for you all!

In my department we had already been working a lot on moving toward 'blended learning', with the idea being that any module could be taken either online or on-campus. One way to do this is to have everyone watch a traditional lecture online, but then students participate in either on-campus or online seminar groups. So those students who still want that traditional face to face learning still have access to it in seminars, but you can avoid having to fill these giant lecture halls.

Not everyone likes this idea and I understand why, although I do notice that it's mostly older male lecturers who object to it, and on the basis of what they themselves like to do, not what's best for the students.

Just to add, one of the main benefits of this kind of blended approach is that you can still get international students in -- you can have people do their entire degree online basically. Not all international students would go for it but UK degrees are valued so highly in certain places that some would.

acorns - I think the plan is more like what dreaming is saying. All modules will be equally available to those on campus and those who cannot make it in person. I think there is some thought that there might be an entirely online first year for some international students, with a plan to come in person from second year. Also included are ideas about multi-year curriculums, where students do certain things over the first two years for example, some of which can only be done in person (e.g., STEM practicals) but others remotely. So students present in year 1 would do the in-person stuff then, students who don't get here until year 2 would do it later. It's going to take a lot of planning and coordination to make sure it all works smoothly, but I do think if we do it right all this work could lead to better experiences and some of the practices could continue on. But the idea of designing all this is massively daunting.

I, too, have seen the sudden realisation among many that teaching is important - and not necessarily easy! (I remember my PhD supervisor telling me teaching was something I should be able to do in my sleep, which I felt was quite denegrating to the educational side of the University...). As someone with heavy input to teaching, it is nice to see it finally valued. I don't know if this new perception will carry through to things like promotion as well, though... one can hope.

In my department we had already been working a lot on moving toward 'blended learning'

So has mine, but our definition of "blended" is a mix of online and face-to-face. Online only would be very difficult/impossible for many modules.

Yes, there are a lot of different ways to do blended, it will have to vary by subject too.

We already have a completely online MA programme that is very successful (it actually has the highest student satisfaction scores in the department) but rolling out this model to all the BA and MA programmes, to such a large number of students, can't be done easily. And hopefully won't be necessary!

if academic staff are largely over 45 and would want to lecture online, could new gtas/fixed termers do the smaller seminars?

My upper year students take my specialist modules because they want someone who's spent 20+ years researching the area to be teaching them - including in small groups.
As I say, I'd be happy with small on campus groups where I didn't have to go in every day/much at all.

As I say, I'd be happy with small on campus groups where I didn't have to go in every day/much at all.

The problem is that when groups get smaller, you inevitably end up with more of them.

It doesn't make THAT much difference if I go in twice a week directly to the class and come home vs once a week. But many of my upper level groups are small anyway, as there are lots of options at that level and everyone who teaches them is a specialist.

Anyone had any updates from their institutions? If we get some relaxation of lock down next week maybe there will be some phased return of staff.

google we have been told campus will not be reopening until at least the end of June and probably more likely July for us today. I am in the student engagement side, and I have the summer off as I'm term time so I am not going back till september by the looks of it.

We haven't been given any information except that we have to keep following the govt's rules (yes, thanks for that instruction, we are not total idiots...).

Academics in my institution are going to be the very last to be returning to campus apparently. Our business continuity plans currently have professional staff coming in gradually on a rota'd system to ensure social distancing at some unspecified time in the future and academics later on I guess once students have started.

The plans around getting students to socially distance in teaching areas and worst of all in corridors between classes is worth a whole other thread

Heard that if we have to social distance, lecture spaces will only have 25% capacity and most other rooms are too small for it to work at all.

Since we started recording lectures, attendance has dropped significantly, so I'm not foreseeing a huge problem with distancing. Corridors, seminars and labs are another matter. I think we can expect to have to run more sessions with fewer students for the latter two. Some activities will be impossible to do while maintaining a 2m gap.

I'm glad I don't have to sort the timetabling out.

It’s why it might be easier not to have anything on campus until after Christmas but the thought of all the deferrals is terrifying.
The current year 12s are really affected by all this as well - loss of education before A levels and then the potential bottle neck in 2021.

I agree About the risk of deferrals google - but i think once people defer, theres quite a high risk (for universities) that some will decide not to go at all.
I think providing on campus also sends a message that univs want to get back to normal as soon as possible, which will be reassuring for students - maybe illogical, but the messaging is important to them, i think.